Polarization independent blue-phase liquid crystal cylindrical lens with a resistive film

We propose a new electrode design for polarization-independent cylindrical lens using a polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (BPLC). The top electrode is coated with a transparent and resistive film to generate linearly varying electric potential from center to edge; while the bottom iridium tin oxide electrode has a constant potential. Therefore, the vertical electric field across the BPLC layer varies linearly over the lens aperture and a desired parabolic phase profile is obtained automatically according to the Kerr effect. Simulation results show that this simple device is polarization independent and it has parabolic-like phase profile in a large tuning range. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America